


Defining The Future

by Fregor



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-04-25 11:29:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14377710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fregor/pseuds/Fregor
Summary: With the war sixteen years behind him, Auror Harry Potter vanishes on a routine call out.





	1. Cracking good time

Harry Potter, bound by ropes against the wall and powerless to act, was rather uncomfortably reminded of his sixth year at Hogwarts up on the Astronomy Tower. Listening to Nott ranting about 'setting things to rights' and 'preserving society from the pollution of muggles' Harry realised he may just be fucked this time.

Nott was one of the few open supporters of Voldemort who managed to stay out of Azkaban after the war. This was due to him not technically having committed any crimes, or rather more likely, not having been caught committing any crimes. For this reason, any time there was even a hint that Nott was causing trouble an auror was sent in the hope of finding compromising evidence.

This time there had been unusual readings in the Ministry's, increasingly big brother like, magic detection network. The net was something of a blending of the detection system for under-age magic detection and the taboo. Instead of picking up magic near under age magic users, the net was designed to detect the casting of unregistered or restricted spells and flag them for the aurors to investigate.

Harry was the senior auror assigned and unfortunately hadn't taken the call-out as seriously as he probably should have. Though to be fair, this was the fourth call-out for Nott's home this month alone and nothing had yet come of them in the eleven years the net had been up.

In any case it happened that after knocking on the door to Nott's home an unprepared Harry Potter was taken by surprise with a stunner to the face when the door opened.

Only minutes had passed before Harry awoke propped against the wall and bound chest to ankles in ropes. If Nott's ranting was to be believed it would seem Nott had spent the intervening years since Voldemort's downfall tinkering with spell creation, specifically with time magic. This did go some way to explaining the multitude of call-outs since the net had been put up. If only the Ministry had grown in competence since Voldemort's downfall, Nott may have been caught years before and Harry wouldn't be in this mess.

Alas, the Ministry's incompetence was even more inevitable than death and taxes, especially when considering Harry's record with the killing curse, and Harry had interrupted Nott during preparations for the final test of his spell-work.

Contrary to what the general public would believe Harry was not wholly unsympathetic to Nott's intentions. Granted, Nott was an odious little rat who would no doubt scurry off to Voldemort if he was ever successful in his endeavour, but on the other hand... Since the end of the war and being freed from Dumbledoor's metaphorical thumb, Harry had rather broadened his horizons especially when it came to political views. While Harry would never support the blood purists and he had no issues with muggleborns or muggles as people, he had seen the effect of encroaching muggle values on wizarding society and was not impressed with the results. Still, time travel was idiotic and Nott must have truly gone off the deep end to think it was a viable strategy.

The thing is, there are good reasons why no one really bothers with time travel. Sure, the idea of fixing past mistakes or rescuing love ones is incredibly tempting and you'd think everyone and their mother would have had a go in the sixteen years since the war. Actually the fact its taken this long for one of Voldemort's supporters to attempt it just goes to show that the reasons for not doing so are _very_ _good_ reasons.

Take time-turners as an example. Time-turners are great when someone needs to be in two places at once or for cramming a few extra hours into their day. For changing the timeline however, time turners are all but useless.

At most time-turners can travel back seven hours at a time for a single repetition. Even daisy chaining the use of multiple time tuners to either travel back further than seven hours or to repeat the same seven hours multiple times is impossible due to restrictions built into all time-turners.

The reason for these limitations is simply that time-turners are designed to be safe to use. For any time travel of less than seven hours and of only a single repetition it is almost impossible for someone to make changes to already established events. The closest someone could get to achieving this is if they were unaware of how events played out and looped back to direct events to the conclusion they preferred, as happened in Harry's third year at Hogwarts. Of course in such cases time travel was inevitable since the changes they made had already happened by the time they decided to travel back to enact them.

Incidentally, another reason most don't bother with time travel is because wizards tend to be lazy pricks and time travel quickly get insanely complicated.

Now after learning about all the restrictions placed on time-turners you might be thinking: 'hang on, what about time travel without time-turners?'

And you'd be right to wonder. Time travel without a time-turner is actually not nearly as difficult as you may think. In fact, the majority of spell-work woven into a time-turner is put in place to restrict what the time-turner is capable of. The spell for the time travel itself is relatively simple and well within the capability of the average witch of wizard. Knowledge of the spell is, of course, heavily restricted, and most useful resources are under lock and key down under the Ministry in the Department of Mysteries. But, this said, the basic principles are hardly unknown and any competent spell crafter could whip up a usable replacement given time to experiment.

No, the issue with time travel has never been in the difficulty of the spell-work but instead that without the limitations imposed by a time-turner it's very difficult, if not impossible, to travel in time _safely_. You see, while time _travel_ is fairly easy, _changing_ time is a different kettle of fish altogether.

Time is intrinsically self-repairing. That is to say that if someone were to travel back in time far enough to break their connection to the present, usually anything over seven hours, the timeline would either ripple out from their landing changing the past as little as possible to accommodate them or if they somehow managed to keep themselves anchored to the future they'd be rejected from the timeline entirely to prevent a paradox.

By far the majority of recorded experiments with time travel have resulted in the person travelling being erased from existence. This is bad enough on it's own but what is truly disturbing is that most time travel experiments aren't recorded. This is not through a lack of proper documentation but instead due to the nature of time travel when it is successful. Anyone who travels back and isn't rejected as a paradox is integrated so thoroughly into the timeline that they have no idea they were from the future in the first place. The only reason these experiments are know to have happened is due to the residual ripples in the timeline detected by the instruments in Department of Mysteries.

Unfortunately none of this was particularly useful to Harry tied up in Nott's house. Despite Nott's stereotypical villainous monologue explaining the brilliance of his scheme, Harry was still tied up without his wand. His wandless skills were terrible. At most he could pull off a fair lumos or perhaps a pathetic wandless summoning char-

The idea hit Harry like a rampaging nundu. While his wand was well secured, his wandless summoning ability was blown the same week he'd developed it, the spelled hourglass Nott had used to hold his time spell was not. Of course it was no doubt stronger than it appeared. Summoning it prematurely would result in little more than tipping Nott off to his intentions. No, if he wanted this to work he'd have to time it perfectly.

“-symbolic for you to be present for the downfa-”

Good, Nott was still droning on but there likely wasn't much time. Harry began putting all his focus into preparing his best wandless summoning spell yet. He wouldn't get another chance, and if he failed the changes to the timeline could be disastrous. Who knows what would change to accommodate Nott in the past, even if he didn't remember the present.

“-the time of triumph, Tempore Muta-”

As focused as Harry was his thirteen years as an auror had his instincts screaming as soon as Nott began to cast a spell.

Harry released the summoning spell with a roar.

“ACCIO!”

“-tionem.” Nott finished the spell just as the summoning took effect.

'Perfect timing.' Harry though in satisfaction as the glowing hourglass flew out of Nott's hand. Hopefully a random hourglass appearing in the past wouldn't disturb anything significant.

“No, you filthy-” Nott screamed as the hourglass sailed towards Harry.

… The hourglass was flying towards Harry. Harry barely had time to panic realising he hadn't quite though this whole thing through.

The hourglass smacked into Harry's chest and with a sharp crack he was gone.


	2. No good, evil clone

Pouncing on his favourite seat at the Griffindor table Sirius was ecstatic to be back at Hogwarts with his friends even after a full summer away from his 'family'. Not even the sight of Snivellus slinking over to the Slytherin table could ruin his mood. In fact... He turn to his left where Prongs had frozen halfway through sitting on the bench, a sickening dopey expression contorting his face.

“Jamie boy stop staring at Evans for a minute will you and sit down. Our dear friend Snively apparently didn't take the hint last year and our honour as Marauders demands he be welcomed back appropriately.”

Remus who'd just taken the seat across from him frowned minutely before turning to watch the professors. Poor Remus. He'd been a little funny since the big prank last year, being all disapproving and professorish. It was unnatural. Maybe he and James had lied when they said he hadn't bitten Snively, who knows what kind of horrible disease he could have caught. He leaned forward a bit for a closer look. Was Remus's hair a little greasy... And his nose. He was sure Remus's nose used to be slightly smaller.

Remus had noticed his attention now and was starting to look a little wary. _Sirius_ was beginning to feel wary himself. Surely Remus couldn't have caught, _gasp_ , Snivellitus.

He launched across the table to comfort Remus with a manly hug.

“You'll be fine Mooney” he didn't blubber. “We'll get you to the hospital wing and Poppy will fix you up in no time, you'll see.”

Remus was getting flustered. It must be one of the symptoms.

“Get off me you git.” Remus spluttered trying to fend Sirius off. No! The curse was spreading quickly. The unreasonable dislike for the handsome and bitchin was already kicking in.

“Sirius, if you don't get off me _you'll_ be the one needing the hospital wing.” Remus growled, starting to sound legitimately annoyed.

Sirius jumped back as if scalded, nearly tripping over his bench. It wasn't that he was scared of Moony. Of course he wasn't. Moony was all soft cardigans and cups of tea, perfectly harmless as long as you didn't steal his chocolate. Or at least that's what he'd always thought before. Last year after the prank though, Remus had been truly angry. He was maybe, kind of, just a little scary when he was angry. Best to let him cool off for now, he could talk Madam Pomfrey into checking Remus over when she saw him next full moon.

James finally stopped drooling over Evans when the commotion caused her to notice him staring. She _Glared_. Sirius wasn't sure she was as muggleborn as she claimed. She must have had some basilisk blood somewhere up the line to be able to _Glare_ like that. He didn't know what James saw in her.

Tsk, that boy. He loved James like a brother, but really, _priorities_. Moony might be dying or worse, turning into a Snivellus clone and- actually come to think of it they sort of were brothers now weren't they. This was the second summer he'd stayed with the Potters rather than his supposed family. Maybe if he eased them into it Mr and Mrs Potter could be tricked into thinking Sirius and James were twins split up at birth. He'd start by calling them Mum and Dad to get them used to the idea, and when they'd let their guard down-

James elbowed him in the side. Oh the firsties were walking in. Titchy little things they were.

“Who's the James clone coming in with the firsties?” Peter asked.

Huh, when did Peter get here?

“I was with you on the train you berk.” Peter squeaked.

Whoops. Must have said that out loud. Never mind. There really was a James clone following the firsties in. He could have been his twin really. Wait, no. Sirius was going to be James's twin. Who did this new boy think he was. He couldn't just walk in and take Sirius's place. He was obviously evil, Slytherin material for sure. Sirius glared at the boy trying to imitate Evans' signature 'you are scum' look while Dumbledore started his usual welcoming speech. Maybe if he pursed his lips a little more...

“-new year. Before we begin sorting the first year students I have the privilege to announce Hogwarts first transfer student in twenty nine years.”

Dumbledoor paused in his speech to wave James's evil not twin forwards. The whole school was focused towards them now, even the Slytherins who usually pointedly pretended not to listen. Judging by the twitching eyebrow and the frown aimed at Dumbledore James's not twin wasn't too happy with the attention. Nevertheless he stepped forward to join McGonagall as she brought out the sorting hat and stool.

“May I introduce Mr Harry Peverell who will be joining classes with the sixth year students. Mr Peverell was previously home schooled, but due to unfortunate complications has seen fit to enrol at our fine establishment.”

Hmm, there was obviously a story behind that. Sirius spent the next few minutes thinking up increasingly unlikely scenarios while Peverell was directed to sit on the tiny stool to be sorted. He eventually decided Peverell must have been caught Death Eater-ing and was now coming to Hogwarts as part of his parole.

The hat was certainly taking it's time sorting Peverell into Slytherin. Maybe it was reeling in stunned horror at the evil evilness of the not twin Death Eater. Peverell was frowning beneath the hat and had his eyes shut in concentration. He was probably trying to change the hat's mind with his nasty dark magic. Hah, the sorting hat once belonged to Godric Gryffindor himself and was enchanted by all four founders. His pathetic attempts were no match for-

“Gryffindor!”

There was a dull thunk and Peverell cursed impressively reaching one hand up under the hat while tugging it off his head with the other. Sirius, and the rest of the students, watched in stunned disbelief as Peverell pulled out a gleaming silver sword. The hilt was embedded with what looked like egg sized rubies, and while Sirius was too far away to read it he thought he could see an inscription on the blade as it caught the light.

While Sirius was attempting to reboot his brain a furious discussion was going on between Peverell, McGonagall, and the Headmaster. Someone had thrown up a charm to block eavesdropping but from McGonagall's stern expression, Peverell's exasperation, and Dumbledoor's 'I know who planted the dung bombs, now fess up before I take measures' look, it wasn't a pleasant chat.

The Sorting Hat chimed in with something that had Dumbledoor smiling and conjuring a sheath for the sword. McGonagall was now sending Peverell a queer look, but was apparently going along with the headmaster as she didn't object when Peverell attached the sword to his belt.

And apparently that was that. Peverell was sent off to the Gryffindor house table and the actual sorting was allowed to begin, starting with this year's song.

Normally Sirius enjoyed the Sorting Hat's songs. It was always interesting listening to the hat singing about Slytherin being the house of cut-throat lying cheats while trying to make it sound like a decent option for a quarter of the school. Unfortunately Sirius was distracted before the song started when the no good evil clone plopped down on the empty bench to Sirius's right. He smiled at the Marauders completely ignoring Sirius's gobsmacked expression.

“Wotcha, my name's Harry if you didn't catch it before. Looks like I'll be bunking with you four.”


	3. Rumination

Harry had been enjoying a fascinating book from the Peverell collection while curled in a chair by the fireplace when his mother sitting across from him abruptly stiffened, paling like curdled milk.

“No.” She whispered, horrified. “He's come.”

Concerned, Harry set aside his book and stood to go to his Mother's aid. She looked as if she was in danger of collapsing.

Before he could take a step there was an almighty crash as the front door to the house was blasted off its hinges across the foyer, shards of wood ricocheting into the living room. In what seemed like the same instant, Harry's mother had leapt over to grab his arm. Her attempt to disapparate was met by the feeling of crashing into a brick wall. Someone had put up an anti-disapparation jinx.

She immediately spun in front of him, wand out and facing the foyer. She was shaking but he could see her face reflected in the window, she was resolute. Harry's brain finally engaged as he realised the danger. He snatched his own wand from his belt and pointed it past his mother.

Tap

Tap

Tap

The footsteps echoed loudly in the utter silence that had fallen as tall thin.. man, rounded the entrance. He wore flowing black robes exposing only his spidery hands and an extremely gaunt face. His features were waxy, almost melted, and his skin whiter than snow. It was the eyes though that gave him away. Red, blood red hate filled eyes with slits for pupils. Voldemort.

“Well, well, Isodora Potter. How lovely to see you again. Have you _missed_ me.” Voldemort crooned in his high drawling voice as he circled the room.

Harry flinched at the grating tone drawing Voldemort's focus. Bloody orbs pinned him where he stood.

“A son!” Voldemort exclaimed faux joyfully. “How delightful. You must be _so_ proud.” He stopped abruptly, turning back to Harry's mother, the jovial facade gone. “The father?” he hissed.

She jerked sideways as if to move in front of Harry again before thinking better of it.

“Dead.” She gasped hoarsely.

However that wasn't the answer Voldemort was looking for. His stare continued, demanding.

“A muggle.” She relented, almost cringing at the expected reaction.

“Hmm, a pity.” Voldemort murmured, disinterested. Then lightning fast his bone white wand whipped to point at Harry.

“Avada kedavra.”

Deadly green light shoot from the wand with a great rushing noise.

“No! Not Harry!” Harry's mother shrieked as she shoved him aside.

As Harry stumbled there was a flash of blinding green light followed by a horrible thump. Harry's back and head smacked into the wall dazing him momentarily but he shook it off and looked up.

His breath hitched, catching in his throat at the sight that met him. Voldemort, standing over his mother, idly twirling his wand with an almost confused expression.

She wasn't moving. Harry didn't want to think about what that meant but oh, he knew.

“How curious.” Voldemort drawled peering at Harry's mother like she was a queerly behaving insect.

Harry saw red.

He pointed his wand, thankfully still in his hand, straight at Voldemort ready to kill. Voldemort however wasn't titled 'Dark Lord' for being slow off the mark and was already casting.

“Avada kedavra.”

“Expulso!”

The spells crashed together between them merging into a single golden beam connecting their wands together. Harry was shocked, an exploding curse does _not_ block the killing curse, but if Harry was shocked it was nothing on Voldemort who looked almost scared.

A golden dome began to surround them destroying the walls and ceiling as it expanded. Harry's forehead was burning fiercely but a beautiful melody had begun, echoing around the dome and soothing some of his distress.

Unfortunately the pain began increasing as beads of golden light appeared on the beam making it all the harder to hold the connection. Somehow he knew if he let the beads reach his wand, he was finished.

There were footsteps as shadows approached outside the dome. Apparently Voldemort had brought some backup.

“Stop! Do nothing without my word.” Voldemort shouted to them looking nervous.

Harry took advantage of the distraction to _shove_ the beads towards Voldemort who's expression slipped straight past scared to frightened. Of course that had to be when the pain in Harry's head _exploded_. Thoughts and memories flashed through his mind in a chaotic roar and the wand connection snapped.

Before Voldemort could do more than stumble Harry reflexively disapparated. Instincts he didn't have minutes ago kicking in.

Fortunately the anti-disapparation jinx had been overwhelmed by the strange golden dome. _Priori Incantatem_ a part of his mind whispered.

He crashed to a forest floor, his surroundings both familiar and yet nowhere he'd been before.

He barely had time to realise that he had not only apparated for the first time but apparated to a location he'd never even seen before passing out exhausted.

“Mr Peverell!”

Harry was jerked from his reflection by Professor McGonagall's near shout. He'd been following her since she met him at the thestral drawn carriages. Judging by the frustration written across her face she'd been attempting to gain his attention for some time.

“My apologies Professor. I was... lost in thought.” He said, unable to withhold a grimace.

From the minute softening of her expression she must have realised just where his thoughts had wandered.

“See that it does not happen again.” She allowed, obviously deciding to give him a pass this once. “You will need to wait here until we are ready to begin the sorting.” She indicated the small chamber they'd arrived at just off the entrance hall. “I would advise taking advantage of the time to make yourself presentable.” She said while frowning at his hair.

Harry took that as his cue to duck into the chamber before she could disapprove of anything else.

“I'll be back momentarily with the first year students.” McGonagall said before closing the door and leaving.

Harry didn't bother trying to fix his hair. He had two lifetimes of memories to show that nothing would tame it.

Speaking of memories, Harry contemplated yet again whether coming to Hogwarts had been the right choice. The knowledge in his head said he'd need access to Hogwarts at some stage if he wanted to get his revenge. He'd be fairly safe here from Voldemort as well. At least, as safe as anyone can get after tweaking Voldemort's non-existent nose. Still, even now weeks later he wasn't sure how he felt about the memories he'd gained.

At first he'd thought they were some kind of vision of the future. That he happened to be in the right location at the right time to catch the echo of a doomed attempt at time travel.

After all, he'd lived his life for sixteen years before memories of some thirty four year old Harry Potter from the future were shoved in his head. Even ignoring his established history in this time, if the knowledge he'd gained from the 'vision' was accurate then time travel didn't just _randomly_ de-age you eighteen years.

Purely physical trappings like clothing were fluid, even physical appearance could change if necessary. But integral aspects of who you were, things tied into your magic and soul like age and magical talents, were immutable.

In hindsight it should have been obvious from the beginning what really happened. He had the knowledge all along but the perspective required to understand the situation wasn't intuitive. Thankfully there was a key piece of information that pulled it all together for him. Something that caused future Harry many headaches in his adult life.

Something had changed in the future Harry after dying to Voldemort's killing curse. In a medical check up after the battle, a routine diagnostic spell had registered his as being of age with a newborn. Either the killing curse interfered with the mechanics of magical age detection, unlikely as he'd not had that problem the first time he was hit as an infant, or his death and rebirth counted as some sort of pseudo-reincarnation.

In any case, at the point that future Harry had his encounter with Nott and the time magic he registered magically as a sixteen year old. In fact he would have registered the exact same age as present Harry would have weeks ago when he tried to duel Voldemort.

So, technically future Harry did travel to the past. He even arrived in the same location he left from. Only he couldn't just appear out of nowhere without not just bending causality, as wizards were want to do, but shattering it. Instead the 'impact' of his arrival sent a small wave of change rippling out into the past, getting smaller as it went until some minor change years back could result in Harry as he existed in the future, legitimately existing now in the present.

The door opened and Harry moved deeper into the shadows at the rear of the chamber. The first years filed in under McGonagall's stern gaze after which she gave them much the same talk she'd already given him about smartening up for the sorting. It wasn't long before she was gone again leaving Harry in an enclosed space full of nervous first year students. Thankfully they were to nervous to give him more than a few cautious side glances and he was left in peace.

Figuring that just because his hair was a lost cause was no reason not to try and make a good first impression, Harry set about trying to charm the wrinkles out of his robe. A long train ride wasn't exactly conductive to a put together appearance but it helped that he'd bee able to afford quality robes.

He was thankful his mother stored their gold in a warded hidey-hole rather than Gringotts. Without going to the ministry and registering as her son they were unlikely to grant him access to her estate. Likely even if he did register as her son the estate would be handed to the still living Potter adults to deal with and he'd be placed under their guardianship. He had too much to do to give up so much of his freedom.

Before he could get bogged down in his thoughts again Mcgonagall returned and beckoned the first years to line up behind her.

“Mr Peverell, you will follow behind so as not to make a spectacle. We will be sorting you first, but please wait for the headmaster to introduce you before stepping forward.” She directed before she was off, marching through the doors to the great hall.

Harry took a fortifying breath, cleared his expression, and followed.


	4. Sworted

Seeing the great hall lit up by floating candles and the four house tables full of students was like coming home. Harry hadn't realised until then how much he'd missed Hogwarts both in his current life and in future Harry's. Unfortunately he was quickly reintroduced to an aspect of future Harry's Hogwarts days he would have been glad to put behind him. The staring.

Most of the students attempted some form of subtlety glancing at him from the corner of their eyes and whispering to their neighbours. Others, notably including the Marauders over at the Griffindor table, were gawking at him like a circus attraction. Sirius Black in particular stood out with the truly ridiculous face he was pulling at Harry. He looked like he'd overdosed on Fred and George Weasley's U-No-Poo pills.

Finished with the usual announcements Dumbledore gave the rest of the students an excuse to drop the pretence they weren't staring by introducing him. He could feel his eyebrow twitching from annoyance and couldn't help the small frown he shot at Dumbledore before stepping forward with McGonagall. It may have been unreasonable considering Harry had to be introduced for his sorting, but it made him feel better to lay the blame on the manipulative old man.

Future Harry's opinion of Dumbledore had been poor after the war. He didn't appreciate the way he'd been set up to be a sacrificial martyr or the months of scrambling for Horcrux clues on the run without help from any competent adults. But considering it had mostly worked out he could have let it go for that most part, except that wasn't the end of it. It wasn't until years later when Harry had been an auror long enough to gain some understanding of all the laws and regulations Dumbledoor had influenced over his lifetime that his contempt for the wizard had really developed. The damage the man had done to wizarding culture with his 'light' and 'greater good' propaganda alone... Well, regardless it was fair to say Harry was not a Dumbledore fan.

“Hmm, difficult. Very difficult” The Sorting Hat's whisper cut in, derailing Harry's thoughts. “Such strong ambitions and the mind to back it up, oh yes.”

Harry didn't like where this was going. Slytherin would put him under suspicion and Ravenclaw wasn't much better with the current political climate.

“No? Are you certain- hmm well, let's see. Plenty of courage and you're not afraid of hard work.”

This was more hopeful. Gryffindor had a, perhaps unearned, reputation for people with strong moral fibre, and Hufflepuff would at least be non-threatening even if nobody would take him seriously.

“Yes, yes the determination to see your task through, and what a task it is. Very well, if you're sure... Better be Gryffindor!” The last word was shouted for the hall to hear before the hat quietened back to a whisper. “If you're to succeed you'll be needing...” The hat contracted and something hard and heavy hit Harry's head with a dull crack, his vision blurring from the pain. He ripped the hat from his head while grasping the heavy object with the other and pulled it in front of him.

'Bollocks' Harry thought when his eyes refocused on the sword of Gryffindor. He had tentative plans to obtain the sword at some point. After all if he could lace it with basilisk venom it would be the easiest and safest method of horcrux destruction available to him. What those plans had not included was showing the thing off in front of all the staff and students of Hogwarts.

“Mr Peverell! What do you think you're doing.” Professor McGonagall cried apparently disapproving of students waving their swords around... er.

Thankfully for Harry's sanity that line of thought was broken as Dumbledore approached from the staff table. A flick of his wand and the noise from the rest of the hall was blocked out.

“Aah Mr Peverell. If I'm not mistaken that there is the sword of Godric Gryffindor you're holding. A priceless relic from one of our schools founders. It is an impressive find and at some stage I'm sure you'll regale us with how you managed to recover it, but perhaps for now it would be for the best if I were to place it in my office for safekeeping.” Dumbledore said expectantly, staring at Harry over the rims of his half moon spectacles. This was one of the main reasons Harry wanted to obtain the sword _quietly_. It wasn't going to do any good on display in Dumbledore's office as it had been in the future. Well, not unless you count the good it did to Dumbledore's reputation for all his visitors to see the 'lost' sword recovered in his office; Harry certainly didn't.

“Oh, well sir.. You see, I think The Sorting Hat was intending for me to use it for ah, something.” Harry trailed off lamely. He didn't exactly have time to come up with an excuse for requiring an outdated muggle weapon. He certainly wasn't going to say he needed it to destroy Voldemort's horcruxes. Actually if future Harry's memories were accurate then Dumbledore didn't even know about Voldemort's horcruxes yet.

“We are not in the habit of letting our students run about with dangerous weapons Mr Peverell. Mcgonagall said in all seriousness. Obviously not counting a wand as being a deadly weapon which was rather short sighed all considered. Dumbledore seemed to have moved onto the 'disappointed Grandfather waiting for a confession' method of attack and didn't say anything.

“Hmph!” The sorting hat grunted stealing all three's attention.

“Oh, something to contribute Sorting Hat?” Dumbledore asked seemingly guileless.

“Yes headmaster.” The hat replied scrunching his fabric at Dumbledore in what could only be called a frown. “As headmaster you should be aware Godric Gryffindor spelled the sword to only be called by a true Gryffindor in need for the defence of the school. What you may not know is that the sword will remain in the possession of the one who called it, Mr Peverell in this case, until the threat is removed or until Mr Peverell no longer seeks to defend the school. Separating him from the sword before his task is complete is beyond your control.” The hat lectured grumpily.

The headmaster considered this for a moment before speaking again, his demeanour brighter.

“And what threat does Mr Peverell have need of assistance for Mr Hat?”

“You know full well I can not speak of what I see while sorting a student Headmaster, but really I would think it obvious.” The Sorting Hat then seemingly done speaking turned back to face the students.

“Well then.” Dumbledore smiled at Harry. “It would seem the matter is settled.” Not to mention that if Harry had understood correctly Dumbledore could now determine if Harry decided not to oppose Voldemort by the sword disappearing. He supposed having a monitor on the student with an _interesting_ last name would make Dumbledore happy.

Dumbledore gave another flick of his wand to conjure a sheath which he then handed to Harry. “A little protection should prevent any accidents. I'm sure I need not warn you against using your sword on your classmates.”

Harry having sheathed the sword and clipped it to his belt shuddered at the words. Surely Dumbledore couldn't be joking about- he checked Dumbledore's expression and found he was smiling genially, waiting for a response. Harry forced his eyebrow not to start twitching again. Dumbledore was probably trolling him, it would be best not to react.

“Of course sir.” Harry replied blandly, ready to be done with it. He wasn't looking forward to all the extra attention this would bring from his classmates.

“Then we shall continue with the sorting. Off you trot.” He waved Harry off to the Griffindor table and Harry gladly took his leave. Now he just had to find a spot to sit, survive the rest of the feast and he could go up to his dorm-

Oh.

His dorm.

The dorm he would be sharing with the Marauders.

The Marauders who were a tight knit group of friends with several secrets they wouldn't want anyone intruding on.

The Marauders who tended to viciously 'prank' anyone they thought 'deserved' it.

How lovely.


	5. Meeting Marauders

Harry decided he needed to win over the Marauders quickly if he ever wanted to feel safe in his dorm room at Hogwarts.

Remus would be both the easiest and most difficult to get onside. He was arguably the nicest- or at least the most polite -Marauder, and would likely be polite enough to be friendly to Harry as the new student. On the other hand even as an adult he was a very private person, constantly wary that people would discover his 'furry little problem' and hate him for it. He may be polite enough not to ignore or harass Harry but gaining his trust would be another matter.

Peter was more difficult to get a handle on. Future Harry only had experience with the unhinged, spent too long as a rat, death eater Peter Pettigrew and tales of his schoolboy days from those Peter had betrayed. While this provided good reason to doubt both Peter's loyalty as a friend and his decision making abilities, it didn't really give Harry an unbiased view of what Peter was like in the here and now.

James he'd never met, at least not that he could remember, either as his future self or in the present. Reading between the lines of some of older Sirius and Remus's stories though, he got the impression James was fairly easy going if a bit arrogant, and if all else failed there was always the family connection to draw on. Though Harry would prefer to avoid that if possible. Harry may be turning seventeen next summer but in the meantime he didn't want anyone looking too closely at his living situation. From the little Harry knew of them the Potters would at the very least want to meet him and make sure he was being looked after if they knew of their relation through his mother.

Sirius could be a problem. The rest he could probably get by with being friendly enough that they would look like tossers if they were rude to him. Sirius wouldn't care. He was incredibly loyal to his friends and would do anything he thought necessary to protect them. As evidenced by his leading Snape to a transformed Remus in his fifth year this readiness to protect his friends didn't always follow logic or make the best use of common sense. What Harry really needed was some kind of distraction for Sirius to focus on instead of the idea of Harry potentially being a threat to his friends and their secrets.

It was with this in mind that after introducing himself to his new room mates Harry turned to meet Sirius's confunded expression.

“Er, you do know that staring isn't going to give you the ability to see through my clothes?” He asked lifting his eyebrow and stifling a smirk.

This was more effective than Harry had expected. Sirius snapped out of his distraction with a splutter and reeled back into James who, apparently finding this hilarious, broke into peals of laughter. Remus sitting across from them was more restrained merely quirking his lips in suppressed amusement, while Peter looked on unsure.

“I bloody well wasn't _staring_ at you.” Sirius replied with offended indignity while straightening up in his seat. “Oh shut up Prongs!” He snatched up a spoon to give James a wallop over the head but hastily put it back down when he caught McGonagall glaring furiously at them from up at the sorting.

“Hmm” Harry hummed, dragging it out while giving Sirius a rather obvious once over. “That's too bad. Well...” He let his smirk come out fully and locked eyes with Sirius. “-at least you'll know where to find me if you change you mind.”

Sirius 'Casanova of Hogwarts' Black actually appeared to be rendered speechless and, if Harry wasn't mistaken, even had a hint of colour blooming over his cheeks.

Remus the kind person that he was came to Sirius's rescue by beginning introductions, though not before James, who had finally stopped his laughing, noticed Sirius's blush and gave a final gleeful snort at his discomfort.

“Remus Lupin.” Remus said while offering Harry his hand. He'd relaxed considerably since Harry first sat down so he must be doing something right. After shaking his hand Remus quickly went on to introduce James and Peter before finishing with- “and the petulant lout you were flirting with is Sirius Black.” Harry glanced to the side to see Sirius pretending to be intensely invested in the end of the sorting, his head tilted up and a pout on his lips making him look rather adorably grumpy.

“Surely nothing he hasn't heard before.” He queried Remus. If Sirius was going to ignore the conversation Harry would just talk around him.

“Well no, I suppose not.” Remus conceded as food appeared on the tables. “It's just that he's not exactly made a secret of his er, escapades, with several girls and I think you're the first boy to be so obvious about it.”

“No.” James chimed in with humour. “Usually the brave ones go after our cuddly little Moony.” He reached over to ruffle Remus's hair.

Harry couldn't blame them. A young Remus before years of hardship, solitary transformations, and loss was boyishly handsome and with his kind nature it would be very easy to develop a puppy crush on him.

Remus who only pushed James away and chuckled at the teasing must have read some of Harry's thoughts in his expression since he decided to clarify.

“It's only happened twice but it was all a bit awkward really. I'm not actually interested in blokes you see.”

Harry wasn't surprised though he did feel a smidgeon of disappointment. Future Remus had never shown any interest in men, although apart from Tonks he didn't show interest in any women either.

Feeling mischievous and considering nobody had been too offended so far Harry waited till Remus was taking a gulp of pumpkin juice before speaking.

“So I take it that's a no to the threesome then?”

It was beautiful.

Remus choked on the juice, half of it shooting out his nose while he spat the rest clear across the table scoring a direct hit on Sirius's face.

Both Sirius and James _howled_ , Sirius in disgust and James in laughter. Peter's humour must have outweighed his caution this time as he erupted into giggles while Remus tried to regain his breath and wipe his face clean with a serviette at the same time. Harry himself allowed a chuckle before the silence around him made him pause. The whole Gryffindor table and most of the Hufflepuffs next door were staring at them, no, some of them were looking behind him... Oh.

“That is quite enough Mr Black.” Professor McGonagall waved her wand over Sirius using it to suck up the spilled juice. “That goes for you as well Mr Potter.” She levelled a stern look at the five of them.

“Please Professor I'm sorry, it was just an accide-” Remus began, trying to smooth things over. He really had the earnest innocence look down pat.

“I'm quite sure I don't want to know Mr Lupin.” Professor McGonagall cut him off. “Shall we say five points for disrupting the feast and you'll be thankful it's not detention.” She vanished the food soiled by the spray of pumpkin juice.

Harry wasn't sorted into Gryffindor for nothing though.

“Er, really it was my fault Professor. I said something funny at the wrong time. Please don't punish Remus, it really was an accident.” He neglected to mention that it was only an accident on Remus's part.

“That was one point from each of you Mr Peverell. Try to push me and it will be five each.” McGonagall didn't budge. “Return to your meals boys and do try to act your age.” She finished before heading back to the staff table.

Five points was actually rather mild considering the wasted food. McGonagall really did have a soft spot for the Marauders. Still...

“Sorry about that, didn't mean to loose you points on the first day.” Harry apologised to the four boys.

“Are you kidding?” James spoke quietly but with enthusiasm. “That was brill mate, you got _Moony_.”

Even Sirius finally cracked a smile and he was the one who had the most right to be upset. Harry decided to let it go, it wasn't like he regretted his actions anyway.

“Moony? You said that before. Is it a nickname?” Harry knew full well it was but he figured it was good habit to keep up the appearance of ignorance when it came to future Harry's knowledge.

“Heh ah, caught that did you?” James asked looking a little uncomfortable. Harry didn't know why, they used their Marauder names regularly in school from what they told future Harry. Maybe they didn't want to give him any clues to Remus's condition since he'd be bunking with them.

“We all have them.” Peter cut in. “Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs.” He pointed to each of them in turn as he said their names. It was quite clever actually. If Harry hadn't already know the truth it could have distracted him from wondering what Remus's nickname meant.

“Oh? They're interesting names. It sounds like they have a story behind them.” Harry prompted, wondering what excuse they'd come up with.

“They're something of an inside joke.” Remus deflected dryly. “It's a little embarrassing and we've made a bit of a game of no one finding out what they really mean.”

Harry supposed that was one way of saying they played 'herd the werewolf' in their animagus forms and didn't want anyone to find out.

“How'd you get a transfer into Hogwarts anyway? I thought if you didn't accept at eleven you were taken off the register.” Sirius blatantly changed the subject.

Harry raised an eyebrow at the abrupt change but Sirius ignored it. Harry didn't push. He knew they'd wouldn't tell him the truth and he was trying to be friendly. He'd just have to pretend he didn't know.

“I didn't actually do it on purpose.” Harry replied. “From what Professor Dumbledore told me, some of the protective wards I lived under were concealing my magic from the Quill of Acceptance. I was-” Here harry paused, not quite sure how much he wanted to reveal. Probably best to just go with the same story he gave Dumbledore. Enough of the truth blended from both lives so that he wasn't actually lying.

“There was a Death Eater attack over the summer that my mother and I were caught in.” He continued. It was technically true if misleading. “She was hit with a killing curse but I managed to get away after the wards fell.” Here he had to pause again. It was still difficult to talk about. He glanced at the Marauders to check how they were reacting. James and Remus looked uncomfortable but sympathetic, Peter looked terrified at the mention of Death Eaters, and Sirius for reasons only he would know looked vaguely guilty. Harry cleared his throat.

“I'd apparated halfway across the country. First time I did it too so I suppose it was rather impressive. As it happens it was the first time I'd shown definite evidence of being magical outside the wards. The Quill of Acceptance wrote my name down in the Book of Admittance and since I was already sixteen I was grouped with the year six students.” Hopefully they wouldn't ask for too many details. The less they asked, the less Harry would have to lie.

“So you live with your dad then?” Sirius asked. “Would have thought he'd keep home schooling you if he hadn't tried to sort out your Hogwarts admission earlier.” Of course Sirius would ask after one of the few topics Harry had to outright lie about.

“No I ah- My father was a muggle but he died before I was born.” Lie. He didn't even want to think about his actual 'father' let alone tell anybody else. He'd noticed that wizards lost interest in that side of his family once he told them he was a muggle though.

“I stayed with some muggle relatives for the rest of the summer but they aren't very comfortable with magic. I'll be turning seventeen this coming summer though so I suppose I'll be moving out then.” Also a lie, though somewhat true to future Harry's life. He'd actually stayed in a muggle hotel for the last couple of weeks of summer.

“Thats er- I'm sorry?” Sirius looked like he regretted asking.

Conversation stalled and the boys awkwardly ate their food in silence.

“So what's the deal with the sword then?” James burst out sounding a little desperate. Harry supposed the conversation had gone a little heavy for a first meeting. Though now it was Harry's turn to feel awkward. Unfortunately the story was bound to get out eventually. It was Hogwarts after all.

“It's apparently called the sword of Gryffindor.” Harry stated, distinctly aware of the eavesdroppers their conversation had gathered. “The Sorting Hat said something about it being given to Gryffindors when the school needs defending. Not that I know how to use a sword.” Harry was quite impressed with himself. He managed not to lie and kept the information to what anyone could find for themselves if they researched the sword in the library.

“You're saying you found the lost sword of Gryffindor and the headmaster let you keep it?” Remus sounded incredulous. Which was fair Harry supposed.

“Can we see it?” Sirius and James chorused excitedly and Peter nodded in agreement with the sentiment.

“The hat said something about not being able to separate it from me until the danger was removed.” Harry answered Remus first trying to make it appear he was almost as clueless as the rest of them. “And I'll show you up in the dorms. There's enough people staring as is.” Harry said the last a little louder and some of the observers looked away, embarrassed at being caught.

The Marauders seemed quite satisfied with this arrangement. But then Harry supposed from their point of view the only thing better than getting to see a famous magical sword was seeing a famous magical sword and then being able to lord it over their not so fortunate classmates.

Harry spend the rest of the meal directing the conversation towards the Marauders rather than his own history. Both because he was tired of dancing around sensitive topics and because he wanted the opportunity to eat his dinner. Hogwarts feasts were too good not to savour them.

He didn't learn much he didn't already know from future Harry's memories but he at least had legitimate reason to know now. It was also interesting to hear about future Harry's grandparents from James and Sirius. He supposed it was more accurate to think of them as his aunt and uncle but his mother had rarely spoken of them.

It seemed like no time at all before the feast was over and Remus, as a prefect, had to help with leading the first years up to Gryffindor tower. Since Harry was supposedly new to Hogwarts he joined Remus to 'learn the way'. James, Sirius, and Peter went in a completely different direction, probably intending to use one of the passages they'd discovered.

This was when Harry had his first introduction to Lily Evans, his future self's mother.

“Potter! What are you doing with the first year students? No never mind, go away before you corrupt them.” Harry heard from behind him. It took him a moment to realise the voice was talking to him. He did look remarkably like James but he wasn't used to answering to Potter despite his future self's memories. There was some kind of distance to the memories, even more so for the years before his 'death' at Voldemort's hand. It was like the emotions were filtered out or disconnected.

He'd paused too long and the air had turned slightly awkward. He turned to face the source of the voice.

“Sorry, were you speaking to me?” He asked the red headed witch. He could see why she'd so often been described to future Harry as 'bright and vivacious'. She was standing with one hand on her hip, radiating energy and wearing her emotion on her sleeve. Her bright red hair had even brighter highlights from exposure to the sun giving the illusion of fire and her grass green eyes were identical to his own.

“Yes you-” She did a double take and deflated. “Oh I'm _so_ sorry. I though you were that arrogant toe rag Potter.” She sounded rather sheepish.

“Arrogant toe rag?” Harry asked amused. He hadn't thought James to be so bad but then he hadn't seen him with Lily yet either.

“Yes, Potter and his little band of miscreants.” She shot a withering look at Remus who bore it stoically before she turned back to Harry. “You have my condolences. I think I'd go mad if I had to room with them.” Yes, Harry decided, he was definitely amused.

“Thank you for your support I suppose.” He managed to say with a straight face. “What is it they say... Strength through adversity?” He heard Remus cough from behind him, likely smothering his own laugh.

“I'm Harry Peverell by the way, it's a pleasure to meet you Miss?” Lily caught the hint and looked slightly embarrassed she hadn't introduced herself.

“Evans. Lily Evans that is, please call me Lily.” She held out her hand.

Harry, deciding it could be fun for tweaking James's nose later, turned her hand as he grasped it and bowed his head to kiss the air above her knuckles, just as his mother had taught him.

“Then you must call me Harry.” He replied to a chorus of mixed giggles and gagging noises from the first year students. Lily snatched her hand back quickly but seemed somewhat charmed by the gesture nonetheless.

“Right well, I suppose we'd better get moving.” She said with a slight blush. She then took off, directing the first years to follow her and leaving Harry and Remus to fall in behind to help any stragglers.

Harry ignored the commentary from Lily on common hazards and landmarks he already knew about in preference of observing Remus. He was frowning a little, looking thoughtful and every few seconds would glance at Harry consideringly. Harry thought he knew what this was about and decided it was better to confront it.

“Heavy thoughts?” He prompted, startling Remus.

“What? Oh, uh not really. Just..” He trailed off.

“Just?” Harry prompted again when it looked like Remus was drifting back to his thoughts.

“Oh, well I don't mean to be nosy, just I wondered if you were uh, interested in Lily.” Remus managed to get out awkwardly.

“Lily is rather interesting.” Harry said just to be a little shit. Awkward Remus was kind of hilarious.

“No, no, I meant-” Remus stopped when Harry unable to keep a straight face smiled at him.

“Remus!” Harry exclaimed, though quietly. “Are you asking my intentions towards the young Miss Evans?” He pretended astonishment. Remus groaned realising he'd been had.

“Look, sorry, I'm not trying to warn you off or anything so boorish. I just thought you should know that well- It would be something of an understatement to say that James has a crush on her. Actually I'm pretty sure he wants to marry her, so if you were _interested-_ ” Here he gave Harry a pointed look. “it might be a good idea not to mention it to James unless you're going to do something about it.”

Harry was pleasantly surprised. He had in fact thought Remus was going to warn him away from 'James's girl', though that might have been a little unfair to Remus. Realising he was being uncharitable, he decided to put Remus at ease.

“I'm not. Not interested that is.” He said bluntly. “I'm not interested in any girls to be honest.” He clarified just to be thorough.

“Ah, right.” Remus said starting to look embarrassed. “So I suppose you weren't joking back in the Great Hall?”

“No.” Harry replied simply. Then after considering. “Well not completely. Sirius was looking at me like I'd killed his dog-” Remus twitched. “and I figured I'd try shocking him into liking me.” Feeling another mischievous urge- Remus was fun to tease – Harry leaned over to whisper in Remus's ear so the firsties wouldn't hear.

“Though do let me know if you change your mind about that threesome.”

The reaction wasn't quite as satisfying as in the great hall but the bright red colour Remus turned was still entertaining. Harry couldn't help but let out a laugh catching the attention of the firsties and drawing a suspicious look from Lily as she stopped at the Gryffindor tower entrance. It felt good to laugh though. He'd been serious and mopey since the attack and laughing made him feel that things could improve if he worked at it. It must have been infectious because Remus joined in with a good natured chuckle. He would have had plenty of practice taking a joke well, what with having James and Sirius for friends.

Lily explained how to get through the portrait and gave out the password before leading them through. Once inside Lily and Remus split up the first year students into boys and girls to show them their rooms. It was getting rather late for eleven year olds after all and it was a big day for them.

Harry followed Remus, first to drop off the first year students, then further up to their own dorm. He was pleased he'd come to Hogwarts. Soon he'd have to face the conflict growing outside of the sturdy walls, but in the meantime it was nice to have the chance to act his age and have fun.


	6. Cheeky

Harry woke up Thursday morning to the slamming of the bathroom door.

“Prongs you bastard!” There was a thump, then cursing and muffled laughter.

Harry peeked through his bed curtains and found the source of the cursing. Sirius was standing by the bathroom door in his pyjama bottoms shaking out his sore hand from thumping the door.

He pushed the curtains open further so he could swing his legs down and was glad he'd showered last night. It didn't look like the bathroom would be free for a while.

“Morning.” He slurred, flicking his eyes around the room. “Where's Remus?” Peter's curtains were still drawn but Remus's were wide open and he was nowhere to be found.

“What?” Sirius startled, twisting to face Harry. “Oh, right.” He relaxed on seeing who had spoken. Did he forget he had a new room mate? “He'll be waiting down in the common room. Always gets up early so he can get the first shower and squeeze in some reading.” He said as he crossed the room to flop down sideways on his bed to Harry's right. Harry's let his eyes track the play of muscles in Sirius's chest and shoulders as he stretched his arms out above his head-

He jerked his face away realising what he was doing. It was one thing to teasingly flirt with Sirius in public. It was a little different to be ogling him in what was essentially his bedroom. Harry certainly didn't want to make the boys any _more_ uncomfortable with having him in their dorm.

He thought he heard a scoff as he went to his trunk to get his uniform, but when he turned to check Sirius was relaxing on his bed with his eyes shut.

“What time did they say we needed to be down to get our schedules?” Harry asked as he quickly got dressed. It was going to be difficult to constantly appear unfamiliar with the school.

“Half eight.” Sirius replied, idly scratching his stomach. Harry's mouth went dry. “Got to have time to collect the books you need before classes.”

Noticing he was staring again, Harry flicked his eyes down to find Sirius watching him. His head was hanging over the side of the bed with a funny little smirk creeping up the corner of his mouth and his eyes narrowed in amusement.

Harry cleared his throat feeling heat creep over his face at realisation he'd been caught. Actually now that he thought of it Sirius was probably deliberately baiting him.

“Right then.” Harry slipped his shoes on. “I'll just go wait down with Remus shall I?” He made for the door. This time he was sure a snort of amusement followed him out. Great.

The common room was mostly empty and he found Remus curled up on a chair in near the fire, reading as Sirius had guessed.

“Morning Remus.” Harry sat down in the chair across from him lifting his hands to warm them by the fire. He hadn't been this far north for some time and the weather was beginning to turn colder.

Remus looked up from his book and raised an eyebrow at Harry's still flushed face.

“Do I want to know?” He asked wryly.

Harry just shook his head not sure he could explain or if he even wanted to. The Marauders had seemingly not been bothered by his blatant hints at his sexuality but Harry was well aware that some of his classmates would be influenced by the muggle world. There homosexuality had only been partially decriminalised and was often considered to be synonyms with paedophilia, especially in the media. At least most wizards with their narrow focus on blood purity were, if not accepting, at least tolerant of the 'oddity'.

He left Remus to his reading, and turned his thoughts back to his arrival in the dorm last night. The room had looked practically identical to the one future Harry had stayed in, but the Marauders had been surprised. Apparently despite the room seeming to be the same size there was somehow a fifth bed and night stand comfortably added where before only four had filled the space. Really Harry didn't think the change in the room was worth mentioning when you consider that the dormitory section of the tower managed to fit fourteen identically sized round rooms- seven for each gender –in a seven story cone shaped tower. That's without taking into account the spiral staircases that should be protruding from each side but were conspicuously missing when viewed from outside. Hogwarts would have given Escher a headache.

It hadn't been long before the other boys had made him carry through with the promise to show them the sword. Somehow he managed to hold in all of the _many_ innuendos begging to be released and was glad for it when the first thing out of Peter's mouth was a comment about it being smaller than he expected. That was an association Harry could do without. Regardless, it seemed that seeing Harry really had called The Sword of Gryffindor went a long way toward convincing the boys Harry had been placed where he belongs. The boost of acceptance may have even been worth the whole school knowing about it - almost.

There was something a little strange about that acceptance. Harry had fully expected to be facing an uphill battle on that front, but it seemed James had decided Harry was going to be included. He was surprisingly considerate with keeping Harry in the loop with inside jokes and pulling him into the conversation. Apart from a few subtle verbal jabs from Sirius the rest seemed happy to follow his lead.

A herd of hippogryphs rampaging down the stairs to the boys' dorms pulled Harry from his thoughts. Remus looked up from his book over Harry's shoulder and sighed. He marked his place with a bookmark before putting it away in his bag and standing up.

“Time to go.” He said to Harry's questioning look.

“Hurry up Moony, Peverell.” Sirius said impatiently, practically vibrating near the portrait hole while James and then a bleary eyed Peter ducked through. “There won't be any bacon left if you don't get a move on.”

Remus huffed in amusement.

“ _Terribly_ sorry Mr Padfoot. Won't you forgive us for holding you up.” Remus replied, bone-dry. Sirius just smiled brightly

“That's alright Moony. I forgive you.” He chirped before bounding through the portrait hole.

They took a shortcut on the way to the Great Hall ducking through a door hidden behind a tapestry on the the seventh floor and climbing up a flight of stairs only to come out from behind a portrait on the second floor just off the Grand Staircase.

“Best not use that path on a Tuesday.” James commented. The warning drew a pout from Sirius who was apparently anticipating Harry doing just that.

Future Harry had read almost this same warning on the Marauders map but being sensible enough not to test it didn't know what it was for.

“What happens if you use it on a Tuesday?” He asked, causing James to duck his head in embarrassment.

“Er, the staircase turns into a slide.” James said avoiding eye contact.

That seemed far too tame a consequence to put off the Marauders. If fact Harry was sure it would make them more inclined to use it- at least when going _up_ to the seventh floor -if that was the end of it. Thankfully Remus finished the story.

“What James failed to mention is he found out the hard way in third year that the slide twists away from the seventh floor entrance and dumps you out in the lake.”

Which alright, that would be bad if you weren't expecting it, but it sounds like it could be fun in the summer if you had your swimmers.

“In your birthday suit”. Remus finished with relish.

Harry huffed out a laugh.

“Thanks for the warning James.” He gave James a pat on the back. “I'm sure that would be a scaring experience.”

At this Sirius snorted.

“Too right, the Giant Squid still hasn't got over it.” He quipped.

Sirius and James spent the rest of the walk playfully bickering and continued through breakfast until McGonagall came by with their class schedules.

“What have you got?” James asked as he leaned past Sirius to snatch Harry's schedule out of his hands. Harry was too distracted to stop him, he'd noticed he had defence first up and was wondering if the defence professor this year would eventually try to attack him as invariably happened each year with future Harry.

“You've got the same schedule as Moony.” James declared. “You share all your classes with Sirius and me except you've got arithmancy when we're in Muggle studies.”

“Why muggle studies?” Harry asked curious. It was one thing to take it as an OWL subject, but most people only took NEWTS if they were expecting to need them for work.

Sirius and James exchanged an impish glance.

“They're using it to get _ideas_ ” Remus sounded beleaguered. And Harry was reminded older Sirius's flying motorbike. He'd once told a story to future Harry about he and James being chased on the thing by both death eaters on brooms and the muggle police. It ended with them swatting the broom riders from the air with the levitated patrol car and escaping in the air before the police could regain their senses.

“Try not to get arrested.” Harry suggested, now understanding Remus's reaction.

“That's what Remus told them last year.” Peter laughed. This didn't surprise Harry. Clearly Remus was the sensible Marauder.

“Yes, well. Great minds and all that rot.” Harry replied.

The boys finished off their breakfast before heading back up to collect their books and setting off for the north tower where they had double defence with the Slytherins.

“How do you think you'll handle the coursework?” Remus enquired as they once again exited the Gryffindor common room. “Did they make you do placement tests?” He was probably concerned Harry would find it hard adjusting to formal education.

“Er, I had to take my OWLS at the Ministry but I was already preparing for them as part of my home schooling.” Not to mention the boost of experience he received in several subjects from his future self's memories. “I did pretty well on them, especially defence, so I shouldn't be too badly off.” That was a bit of an understatement. He'd been studying all the core subjects of course, and also the study of ancient runes and arithmancy. Future Harry's memories weren't much use in the theory side of those topics, or at all for runes and arithmancy, but the extra practical experience was significant. He'd also used his future memories to score an EE on care of magical creatures which he hadn't studied in addition to using his own experience hiding in the muggle world and his future memories to score an easy O in muggle studies. The home schooling system was so lax that he could just tell the ministry he'd been studying a subject and they'd let him take the OWL.

They'd arrived at the classroom with plenty of time to spare and were soon joined by the Gryffindor girls and sixth year Slytherins. James perked up on seeing Lily then _transformed_ into a completely different person. He ruffled up the back of his hair, puffed up his chest, and swaggered over to the Gryffindor girls group with a smug expression of arrogance plastered over his face. The rest of the Marauders didn't seem surprised by this but Harry who'd grown used to a considerate and relaxed James was taken off guard.

“All right, Evans?” James grinned, gathering the attention of the girls. He was met with mixed reactions. One of the girls practically swooned while her friend broke into giggles but Lily and the girl she was talking to both frowned in annoyance.

James then proceeded to attempt securing a date through a combination of wheedling, bribes, and ultimatums all the while insulting Lily's conversation partner, inferring Lily should be glad for his attention, and preening like a peacock. It was a trainwreck.

Thankfully before Lily completely lost her patience and drew the wand her hand was twitching for- or possibly that was James's neck -the defence teacher opened his classroom door and directed everyone inside.

“Did that really just happen?” He asked Remus as they entered the classroom.

Remus looked uncomfortable and gave a little shrug in agreement but Sirius following behind barked out a surprisingly bitter laugh.

“Prongs is completely bonkers for her. Emphasis on the bonkers.” He sounded annoyed.

Harry figured it best to let it go.

Once everyone was seated the professor, who gave his name as Professor Denshaw, began the class by explaining their syllabus. As in future Harry's sixth year they would be focusing on non-verbal casting, but they would also be examining some of the more powerful curses later in the year including the three unforgivables.

Today they would have a practical lesson in non-verbal casting and as such were told to pair up after a short lecture on the topic.

“Let's see what you've got Peverell.” Sirius dragged Harry off to the side apparently deciding to partner with him. Harry would have much preferred to partner with Remus. He wasn't all that comfortable giving Sirius a professor approved opportunity to curse him.

“Disarming _only_ now. Are we all ready? Begin.” Denshaw set them off.

Harry allows Sirius to go first then quickly disarmed him when he failed to cast the jinx. This set the tone for the next few minutes and Harry could see that Sirius was starting to get frustrated. It was a little unfair Harry supposed. He had the memories of a thirty four year old auror in his head. It would be a bit pathetic if he struggled with silent casting all considered.

Still, getting frustrated wasn't going to help Sirius one bit. All it would do is distract him from focusing on _wanting_ the spell to work which was essential when transitioning to non-verbal spellwork.

On his next turn he decided to change thing up a bit to give Sirius more incentive for success.

 _Acri expriminates_. He incanted internally flicking his wand at Sirius sharply.

Confusion flashed across Sirius's face for a split second before the spell hit. Then he yelped, his eyes popping wide at the bum pinching jinx.

Harry _just_ managed to keep his expression neutral by the skin of his teeth. He was sure though that his eyes reflected his humour and appreciation at the sensory feedback of the spell. Sirius's bum was _very_ pinchable.

He narrowed his eyes at Harry.

It only took a few more rounds for Sirius to block his first spell non-verbally much to Harry's disappointment. He was doing so consistently minutes later and was even able to cast some of his own spells in return. None of them managed to get through but that just seemed to make Sirius more determined. At least he appeared to be enjoying himself now.

They were one of the few groups doing the exercise honestly. Most seemed to be whispering their spells out loud but there were some others having moderate success.

In what seemed like no time at all Professor Denshaw called a halt to the lesson. He proceeded to inform the class that they would soon be expected to be performing spells non-verbally in all wanded classes and encouraged them to practice before dismissing them slightly early.

At least the professor seemed competent Harry thought. He should probably get move on with destroying the diadem horcrux hidden in the room of requirement. He was almost certain it was the diadem anchoring the curse on the defence against the dark arts position.

“Well, that's going to take some getting used to.” Remus remarked as he came up on Harry's left. Harry had noticed Remus getting the hang of it towards the end of the lesson so he was doing better than the majority of the class and Harry told him so.

“He was doing better than _some_ people at remembering the disarming charm too.” Sirius cut in wryly on Harry's right.

Harry laughed.

“Surely you're not afraid of a little _cheek_ Sirius.” He replied, drawing a huff from Sirius.

Remus gave them both a long contemplative look before shaking his head.

James, who'd been silent up until now, threw an arm each of their necks smiling a little too broadly.

“Hungry, mates?” He asked trying to swing off their shoulders.

“Mmm-” Harry hummed agreeably. “I could eat a deer.”

James tripped nearly pulling them to the floor with him.

“Hah, right.” He said a little shakily and pulled himself back up. “Lunch then.”


End file.
